George s



(No Model.)

G. S. BROWN.

WICK BAISER.

Patented Sept UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE S. BROWN, OF FORRESTVILLE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE BRISTOL BRASS AND CLOCK COMPANY, OF NEINT YORK, N. Y.

WICK-RAISER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 483,279, dated September 27, 1892.

Application filed January 22,1892. Serial No. 418.869. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. BROWN, of Forrestville, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Vick-Raisers, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to an improvement in wick-raising devices in which a spring-metal strap is caused to contract and grasp the wick or to expand and release the wick, according as the operating-rod is lifted or depressed, or vice versa.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a vertical central section through a lamp, showing the wick-raising device in position to grasp the wick. Fig. 2 is a view of a wick-raising device, wick, and wick-tube in detail and in elevation, the view being taken in a direction at right angles to that of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the wicktube and wick-guides and operating rod, showing the grasping strap or band in top elevation and in grasping contact with the wick. Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the said band in its released adiustment, and Fig. 5 is a view in detail showing the guide for closing the grasping strap or band attached to the top of the lamp-bowl instead of to the bottom.

A represents a lamp-bowl of any well-known or approved form. In the present instance it is represented as a bowl for a central-draft lamp, the central tube, about which the wick B is seated, being denoted by o., and the outer wick-tube, which surrounds the wick at the upper portion of the central tube d, is denoted by or The wick-raiser .comprises a band or strap C, of some suitable resilient material-spring sheet-brass,` for exampleadapted to encircle the wick, its free ends projecting outwardly in the form of lips c and c for the attachment thereto of an operating-rod D. The tendency of the spring-strap C is to expand and throw itself normally out of contact with the wick. It is caused to contract and grasp the wick byforcing its free ends or lips c and c toward each other as the strap is slid up or down by the operating-rod D. Such closing of the lips and contracting ot the strap is produced in the present instance by the gradually-contracting sides e and c of a guide E, fixed within the lamp-bowl. I find it convenicnt to form the guide E by bending the rod of metal, so as to bring its branches near together for a distance from a bight e2 and then gradually separating them and extend them wider apart at the bottom or top of the lamp, as the case may be, and to there secure them, so as to hold the guide in the position shown either in Figs. 1 or 5.

By extending the lips of the grasping strap or band between the sides of the guide and then forcing said band upwardly, as in the construction shown in Fig. l, or downwardly, as in the construction shown in Fig. 5, they will be gradually brought together and the band contracted as they approach the narrow space between the sides of the guide and will be held in such position with the band tightly grasping the wick until the band is again forced into position to bring its lips between the more widely-separated portions of the guide.

The band C is provided, in the present instance along its upper edge, with teeth c2 for securing a grasp upon the wick, and its lips are conveniently held against vertical displacement relatively to each other and caused to move up and down together by means of an arm c, fixed to one of the lips c, for example, and extending thence through a slot ct, formed in the opposite lip c. The arm c3 may be simplya tongue cut from the central portion of one of the lips and turned out at right angles thereto. The operating-rod D is secured to one of the lips c, for example, and may be provided with a laterally-extended lower end d to engage the under side of the opposite lip c and thereby relieve the strain upon the arm c3 in moving the grasping-band into position to contract and grasp the wick to lift it.

By the above arrangementIam enabled to secure a hold upon the wick throughout substantially its entire circumference, and by so doing the wick throughout its entire circumference willbe evenlylifted, while at the same time the release of the graspingnband from the IOO band adapted to surround the Wick and terminating at its ends in laterally-projecting lips, means for interlocking the lips one with the other, au operating device engaged with the lips, and a guide the sides of which approach and recede from each other and between which the lips of the strap are adapted to slide, substantially as set forth.

GEORGE s. BROWN.

Vitnesses:

FREDK. HAYNEs, GEORGE BARRY. 

